Empire of Shadows

13.

Ketil's face lost its color, his heart stopping in his chest. "What do you mean, they have Dante?!"

Raziel looked to both of them, his mouth open but no words coming out.

"What the hell do you mean, Sousa?! Speak!"

He finally did, his voice shaking. "Anubis sent her to run an errand. I saw the Inquisitors pick her up!"

"Damn them! How did they know?" Ketil grabbed the poker from the fire, the iron tip glowing white from the heat. "I'll kill them!"

"They must have one of us on their side! Ketil, there are five of them. They're scouting the entire town! They have weapons too!"

He pushed past Raziel, looking back to Jameson. "Watch the prisoner. Does Anubis know?"

He shook his head, "you were the first I could find! Vasco and I are useless here. I think you're useless too."

"I refuse that." Ketil slipped into the hallways, "find Anubis—take the Prisoner with you!"

The skeleton of a man stepped forward, "can I do anything to help?"

"Can you shoot a gun?" Ketil tried to hide the desperation in his voice. "Are you willing to kill someone?"

Jameson's eyebrows shot up and he hesitated. "That girl saved my life, I figure I owe her that much."

Ketil stared back at Raziel. "Get the others. Dante better fight—she promised me. She promised she wouldn't hesitate. Drass, why couldn't it have been one of us?" He turned and ran down the stairs of the inn, running into the cold outside.

Cold wind tore through his body, his thin shirt no match for the chill. He didn't allow himself time to shiver, he clutched the cast-iron poker in tight fists. He snarled as he moved deeper into town, following the tracks in the snow. There were Dante's small tracks and then the marks of men with heavy boots. He ran faster, letting panic drive him forward.

He felt his lips curl up into a snarl as he saw the crowd gathered in the middle of the square. Three men stood on solid gallows, a small girl between them. The gallows were made from stone and wood—not the usual temporary structures that most towns tore down and reassembled every time a criminal or riesun was discovered.

This town was no stranger to public hangings.

Dante stood between the men, her hands tied behind her back. She stared at her feet, brows knitted together, as the gloved men adjusted their grip on her arms. She wanted someone to rescue her. She didn't want to spill any blood. Dante never wanted to kill someone and with her ability....

Bloody pacifist.

Ketil adjusted the poker in his hand as another man stepped onto the podium. His long dark hair cascaded down his shoulders, fur cape around his shoulders and white gloves over his fingers. He smiled to the crowd, a small cry going through them. Ketil stared at him as he waved, acting more like a celebrity than an Inquisitor.

Ketil took a step back, this was all so wrong.

The man on the podium waved again, silencing the small crowd. He removed his left glove, showing a mark to the crowd. The mark of the house of Tsar Reznik burned black into his flesh.

Ketil felt his heart leap forward at the sight. A riesun working for the Tsar. A riesun working for the Tsar to identify the people like him. Scum, that's what he was.

He regloved his hand, looking to Dante. "My name is Viktor Roet, I am a riesun sent to do the Tsar's bidding. I am sent to find and destroy the plague that cursed our land in the years following the plague!"